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Stop Chasing Your Golf Game!

I learned a valuable lesson many years ago that chasing my golf game was a waste of time. During this dark period of my career (about 20 years ago), I would try any new technique regardless how silly it was; fortunately, I did not have the money to chase equipment or I would have done that as well. I wasted so much time that now I look back and wonder if I would be a better player if I had learned this valuable lesson sooner.

I remember being so frustrated that all those new techniques gleaned no improvement to my game. I would wonder why, after trying something for a round or two, it would not work and why my scores were not lowering. Of course, looking back now I know why, but then I was blinded by the chance of instant success. It was a very poor approach to golf and unfortunately others still follow this false path to success.

The worst technique change I ever tried was reversing my hands on my clubs. Yup, I lowered my left hand below my right and continue to hit right handed. I remember the worse part of the whole ordeal was I hit the ball well…..the first time! After that it was a gong show! I spent the better part of 2 weeks using this failed grip and the 4 weeks correcting my errors. This does not seem like a long time, but let me tell you that it made me question why I was playing golf for sure.

I did some research and this following from sandtrap.com forum sums up my view and approach to playing better golf:

It takes about 100 consecutive successful repetitions to break a habit. The key words there are consecutive successful. How long this will take will depend upon the complexity of the task. This is why it may take hitting 1000 balls to prevent your bad habits from creeping back in. Then another 2000 repetitions to establish correct procedural memory for the task. Of course this does not mean you won’t hit bad shots in the process. It means correct swing. Even the touring pros with the established procedural memory hit bad shots.

Teaching and Coaching is only one part of learning golf. Repetition and consistency are required to be a better player.

I have heard all kinds of numbers, but the point is that improving any aspect of my golf game takes time, patience and consistent effort. I adopted this approach years ago and it has worked. Of course some changes have taken less time, but others (like a full turn) took more. Moving forward into 2019, I plan to focus a only 2 or three changes that will have the greatest impact on my game. Not sure exactly what they are, but the above process will definitely be part of my approach.

That’s the right idea as far as my experience goes. The only thing I would add is that while I know it’s best to work the changes out on the range, taking them to the course may bring more frustration, but once I’ve hit a couple hundred balls on the range, I don’t try and switch back and forth. Commitment is crucial too so I take the bad with the good once I start a change and give them a full effort.

Got three more greens from the tee yesterday. They made it easy on a few more holes with temp tee boxes on every hole. It felt a shame to miss all three eagle putts short but the greens were kind of hairy and the balls were bouncing instead of rolling so speed control was tough. But 3 easy birds never hurts my feelings. And I felt especially good because I managed to stay really accurate even though one of my playing partners outdrove me all day distance wise. In the past, I’ve let that get under my skin and tried and hit the ball farther only to get wild. Not today though. My driver was shooting darts.

Committing the change is definitely a must. Great point for sure. Great to see your driver is working very well for you. It always makes the round easier when you are in play off the tee. Thanks for the update.